2024 Season - News and Rumours

[Skam85]

If the cars are that vivid green with the black like their instagram stuff, that would be pretty cool and different.

Reality: bog average carbon black with a couple of tiny stickers to lower the cars' weight.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Skam85

If the cars are that vivid green with the black like their instagram stuff, that would be pretty cool and different.

What the customer/sponsor wants (and might get)

Originally Posted by Skam85

Reality: bog average carbon black with a couple of tiny stickers to lower the cars' weight.

What the engineering team is hoping for.



I guess it depends upon how much they paid for sponsorship. I am tired of the basic black cars.

Richard

[chillibowl]

Guenther Steiner has apparently been replaced as team principle. to be replaced by Ayao Komatsu.

https://racer.com/2024/01/10/steiner...eam-principal/

crazy!

[chillibowl]

and no one told him!

https://twitter.com/HaasF1TeamBoss/s...29384187486381

unsure if this is true, that it is true and he was the last to know, or he's just having fun with this story. good times!

edit: i dont actually even know if thats his real twitter page! guess im old like that!

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

and no one told him!

https://twitter.com/HaasF1TeamBoss/s...29384187486381

unsure if this is true, that it is true and he was the last to know, or he's just having fun with this story. good times!

edit: i dont actually even know if thats his real twitter page! guess im old like that!

I "think" that is his Twitter account. No indication that it's a fake or joke account.

I like Gunther in the same style of we all like Kimi. But frankly, I can see that maybe a change was needed? But who knows if removing Gunther was the change that needed to be made? It's hard to remain at the top of a failed org for a long time without it catching up to you. Haas technical director Simone Resta also left (announced today or yesterday I think)

Crazy times.

Richard

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Guenther Steiner has apparently been replaced as team principle. to be replaced by Ayao Komatsu.

https://racer.com/2024/01/10/steiner...eam-principal/

crazy!

And also Haas' technical director, Resta., according to Motorsport.com.


Edit: Richard beat me to it!

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Guenther Steiner has apparently been replaced as team principle. to be replaced by Ayao Komatsu.

https://racer.com/2024/01/10/steiner...eam-principal/

crazy!

I think they would have been better keeping what they know, rather than an unknown like that

[Peter Mallett]

I'm sure we have a poster here who knows exactly what is going on.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Richard C

I "think" that is his Twitter account. No indication that it's a fake or joke account.

indeed looks real. he has posted a bunch of subsequent messages of thanks on it.

he was a great personality, and totally very much of the tell it like is is/why we all like Kimi mold, and will definitely be missed...until he gets a job as a pundit which i hope he does even if it is with SKY!

to your point that perhaps change was needed...time will tell if this is the right move for the team, but imo they could have handled/coordinated the change over in a better more organized way. at least the public side of it.

[Richard C]

Its hard to not run wild with crazy speculation...

* What will Drive to Survive do without Steiner?
* Is Andretti going to buy Haas?

Richard

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

I'm sure we have a poster here who knows exactly what is going on.

I'm surprised, and what's more, disappointed, that it wasn't signposted on here a day or so ago!

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

I'm surprised, and what's more, disappointed, that it wasn't signposted on here a day or so ago!

Ouch, and well done both.

Here's to Steiner getting the Andretti gig when they buy their way in

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Richard C

Its hard to not run wild with crazy speculation...

* What will Drive to Survive do without Steiner?
* Is Andretti going to buy Haas?

Richard

Ya know… a purchase of the underperforming HaasF1 and the shard of Stewart Haas NASCAR team might make sense for Andretti Global.

Bang into two of the largest championships in the world without the growing pains of a startup…

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Ya know… a purchase of the underperforming HaasF1 and the shard of Stewart Haas NASCAR team might make sense for Andretti Global.

Bang into two of the largest championships in the world without the growing pains of a startup…

I have seen someone else suggest Andretti partnering with Haas... Andretti/Haas F1. If something like that were to happen, they would need to break from Ferrari assuming Andretti would bring the GM funded power unit.

Honestly, as long as Haas is super dependent upon Ferrari I don't see them making any significant steps forward. I would also love to know what the internal thoughts are regarding Dallara. How influential is Dallara in the design these days? And I think as Ferrari had to slim down to meet cost caps, didn't some of those cast off from Ferrari move to Haas. And I can't imagine Ferrari sending off their best and brightest to Haas? Who is in the drivers seat with respect to the design of the Haas? And is Haas happy with that? Be it Dallara or Haas (with ex-Ferrari staff) itself, they can't be happy.

Richard

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I think they would have been better keeping what they know, rather than an unknown like that

He’s hardly an unknown!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by peebee2

He’s hardly an unknown!

Not everyone is in the know, rubbing shoulders with those in the paddock.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by peebee2

He’s hardly an unknown!

Can you provide sources to support his team management skills are a known commodity, ie when was he team principal before

[Greem]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Can you provide sources to support his team management skills are a known commodity, ie when was he team principal before

Is there some sort of rule that says a person can't be promoted into a role before they've done that role elsewhere? Seems like a recipe for a shrinking closed shop to me.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Greem

Is there some sort of rule that says a person can't be promoted into a role before they've done that role elsewhere? Seems like a recipe for a shrinking closed shop to me.

I just meant in response to the "an unknown" and then the generally he's known.

No, I have no problem with new blood and in fact think in most sports the closed shop recycling of TP/HC/upper management needs to be stopped. It was just a correcting the assumption by one user

[chillibowl]

Sounds like he’s been in F1 for about 20 years in various engineering roles with different teams and drivers and with Haas since they started so I assume he’s well known in the paddock. Probably would be more well known to fans had he worked for a higher profile team.

Knows the team and how it operates so that’s a plus. Always a question about to hire from within or bring in someone from outside who will take time to learn the team and operation from zero. On paper seems like a more sound choice than say when Williams brought in Adam Parr to run their team. I suppose Otmar is available but that would be like his 3rd team in 4 years(?) so question marks on him.

Get the sense that this was a late decision or at least one that was made quickly and without the benefit of being able to do a prolonged search…hiring from within makes sense?

Curious to see what he can do.

[GTRMagic]

If you read all the media reports, getting cash from either the owner or external brand is the key to spending at the OpEx and CapEx cost caps for the series.

Not sure an engineer is best placed for such things, but you never know.

[Richard C]

I have some additional thoughts now that more details are trickling out. I found these articles to be interesting...

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/w...-steiner-left/

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ge...form/10564682/

I suspect one or both of those articles was lifted from this interview (which requires an account which I don't have setup)

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...JLV19Atf4.html

Note below I will say "Haas" and I really mean Gene Haas and not the team as a whole.

* I don't have issues with Komatsu being promoted into the team. Yes, a more traditional route would be to hire someone with existing F1 TP experience, or maybe a TP from another top series. But Haas states he is a believer in promoting from within as that is how he does it at Haas Automation. There are pros/cons to this approach. It does reduce ramp up time (as Haas notes), but it also makes it harder to bring in new ideas from outside. I am curious to see what a new Haas F1 Team looks like under Komatsu. I wish him and the team well. I also can imagine that the timing of all of this disruption can't be good for Haas performance in the 2024 season. They still have other gaps in the org to fill beyond just Steiner.

* I suspect Steiner may not have been totally shocked he was let go. I think we can trust that he wasn't told in advance of it hitting the press, but I can imagine there have been some recent "hard" conversations between him and Haas regarding the team future. Maybe more details will come out on this.

* It sounds like both Haas and Steiner thinks something needs to change. The problem is they have very different opinions as to the path forward. Haas feels they should be doing better than they are with the current resources. Steiner thinks they need to invest more. The articles speculate that while Haas isn't happy dragging around at the back of the grid, he may not also be obsessively driven to be at the top either. That from a marketing perspective something less than dead last might be acceptable if not ideal. Plus being so far down in the final results has funding implications. Haas would prefer to be getting a larger percentage of the championship revenue sharing by placing higher. But in the end, Steiner getting the boot is a reflection of team (poor) performance.

* Haas remains a believer in the current structure of strong partnership with Ferrari. And that is likely to continue into and through 2026.

* The articles speculate that Komatsu has basically told Haas what he wants to hear. That Komatsu lobbied for the role. Steiner not agreeing with Haas's ideas. So Steiner out Komatsu in. I think only Haas and Komatsu knows what happened.

Richard

[S griffin]

I do sympathise with Steiner. He was doing his best with what he had. Haas are a serious team, but you wonder how much interest Gene is putting in. In some ways I feel Guenther has been made a scapegoat and really Komatsu has a lot of work if he is turn Haas around. Frankly I can see him finding it tougher than Steiner did

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Greem

Is there some sort of rule that says a person can't be promoted into a role before they've done that role elsewhere? Seems like a recipe for a shrinking closed shop to me.

Yes, it’s utter nonsense. Like calling someone who’s worked in F1 in increasingly senior roles for over 20 years an “unknown.”

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Can you provide sources to support his team management skills are a known commodity, ie when was he team principal before

Who has claimed he was a TP before? Nobody I am aware of.